Into the Light
by Max Salsa
Summary: It’s been five years since the event known as the Hundredth Day, when all of Team Lyoko left the Earth. Now, Jeremie and Aelita have returned for a new age of disaster prevention. But can they keep themselves from dying again emotionally?


-Neo's Notes-

Wow, it's been a long time! Sorry for the wait, everyone! Anyway, on to business! This story is the official, sanctioned, true, one and only sequel to The Hundredth Day, which got more reviews than I was expecting. (Keep 'em coming!)

I do want to take a second and thank everyone who's been reviewing The Hundredth Day; it's been up for some time now and everyone's been so nice about it. Only problem is that dude who keeps asking to make the authorized sequel… when he sees this, the answer is now NO. This is mine. So let it be written, so let it be done. Thanks for your interest, EJ, but from here on out this is the official storyline.

Disclaimer: Despite my statement in the previous paragraph, Code Lyoko, songs by 3 Doors Down that I use either here or in other stories in this line, and selected other content does not belong to me. I don't make money off this.

Summary: It's been five years since the event known to the new Lyoko crew as the Hundredth Day, when the entirety of the old team left the Earth. With a certain brain's foresight, Jeremie and Aelita have returned for a new generation of disaster prevention. But can they keep themselves from dying again emotionally? End of Days series #2.

* * *

Jeremie had, for the last five years, been roaming the Digital Sea, trapped there for what he thought was an eternity. He'd been looking all this time for a pink-haired princess named Aelita who he'd originally lost to the Sea and had later jumped in after, knowing the consequences. His friends… he didn't know what had happened to them. He feared the worst – XANA attack without an operator? Nobody to start a return in time? No vehicles with which to cross a chasm? Yeah, the situation was grim, but… they were the Warriors of Lyoko. They could hold their own, unless XANA activated a tower… It occurred to him that Aelita was the only person who could deactivate the towers, and she was somewhere down here with him. So if XANA activated a tower up there… not a pretty picture. 

Suddenly, Jeremie heard something he hadn't heard in over two hundred and fifty weeks: communications from the sky, meaning someone was at the computer. "Hello? Is anyone in here?"

_What do you think, idiot?_ Jeremie wanted to shout, but he called, "Yes! Down here!"

But the voice only kept searching. "Anyone? Answer me!"

_Oh, boy… He can't hear me from here._

"I'm going to assume you're there and can't answer me. We're going to pull you out of there. Sit tight for a minute."

_We've been sitting tight for over five years… surely we can hold out another minute,_ Jeremie mused.

"Aelita first… Scanning source code." Jeremie had no idea what his saviors were smoking up there, but let them work. "Scan complete and character located. Materialization!" Way off in the distance, Jeremie saw a pink beam rise above the Sea and exit Lyoko. "Jeremie, get ready. Scanner… got it! Materialization!"

Jeremie felt himself rising into the sky….

…and tumbled out of a scanner next to Aelita, looking tired but otherwise as his memory recalled. "…We're finally home," Jeremie said, relieved.

"I didn't think we'd come back again… wait! When did you get down there?" Aelita shouted.

_Oops._ "Well… um…"

"You didn't try to save me or something stupid like that, did you?"

"Not really…"

"Miss, there's something you should see," a voice cut in. Both of the others looked to see another boy in the elevator, figure black against the light. "You both should join us upstairs."

"Us?" Jeremie asked.

"Just come see for yourself." The two walked to the freight elevator they'd ridden so many times, and rose a floor to the supercomputer, dusty from years of disuse but still working well. Here the boy who'd come for them stood next to others: two girls and another boy, the later in the chair of the supercomputer.

"What… what is the meaning of all this…?" Jeremie wondered. _There's no possible way that…?_

"Yes, we are," the one in the chair began, as if reading Jeremie's thoughts. "We are the next Team Lyoko. We were established shortly after our arrival at the school a year ago. We're all second-year students here now. Standing next to me are Ellen," indicating the girl immediately to his side, with rich purple hair and a bright smile, "Tammy," who was fairly tall (_Like Yumi, _Jeremie thought) and having piercing green eyes, "and Eric," noting the boy furthest from him, who bore a striking resemblance to Ulrich. "Myself… I am Steven, the leader of Team Lyoko Alpha, TLA for short."

"But how…?"

"Before you keep babbling like that, allow me to tell you I can telepathically read minds. Anyway! You. Oh, finding you was a discovery, indeed. It was shortly after the news story came out about the deaths of your companions, Yumi and Ulrich, that we began to investigate." Jeremie considered trying to interrupt, but didn't. "It turns out that Lyoko is not completely isolated, and after a few months of work, I was able to find out what was going on. During that time, I had made a group of friends over the Internet that were also highly interested in the story and suspected either foul play or something fishy. We chatted for some months until I completed the program. It rivals your own software in many ways, Jeremie. I am impressed."

"I didn't create this software, Aelita's father did that."

"Aelita's father… yes, we looked at that, too. Aelita… the first name just didn't fit with the last. We found the record of Franz Hopper some time ago." Aelita paled, not used to her father being regarded in this manner. "We did a little more digging… found out about the project of Lyoko… his daughter… and most importantly, more details about the Lyoko project that were essential to our case. Over a few more months, we decided that we were going to come to Kadic when we were of the proper age and level of schooling. We would come to fight. We would help create the world without danger that was originally proposed by Franz Hopper. And… we would bring peace." Here Steven paused. "However, there were a few kinks along the way, of course… parents not wanting to pay… stuff like that. We ended up using the power of Lyoko to help fix that. To put it simply: odds of winning jackpot when you've when you already know the winning numbers are one in one."

_Ulrich tried that once… but no… how could they?_ "How could you do that?"

"Be still," Steven said sharply, while maintaining the same cool tone he'd been using since they'd met. Jeremie stopped. "We knew it was unethical. But we knew that certain steps must be taken to ensure our plan would succeed." He paused. "As for your friends… you are the only ones left of Team Lyoko. Your friend Sissi has been broken in spirit, and is of little use as of late. And the rest of the school has completely forgotten of you. No memorials. No questions. Nothing."

"No…" Aelita breathed.

"You have my condolences. But there is nothing that can be done. To be honest, it's a mystery to us how you got here in the first place." Steven seemed… puzzled?

"We don't know either… but I have an idea. We materialized a strand of Aelita's hair once, and brought her data back from it… perhaps Yumi and Ulrich realized this and went searching?"

"It's possible," Tammy responded, surprising Jeremie and Aelita. "We don't know how you got back, but it's good you did."

"Yeah, we're glad we could save you," Ellen chipped in cheerily.

"Indeed," Eric added, seeming somewhat withdrawn.

"There is one other thing I should mention about us… all of us happen to have psychic powers, which generally translate into Lyoko. I do not virtualize myself, but I have the power to read minds. Ellen can break into your mind and plant thoughts within, which makes monsters either walk into the Sea or shoot at each other; Tammy is telekinetic, which lets her move things around for aid or destruction; and Eric is pyrokinetic, which is self-explanatory."

"Quite an interesting group," Jeremie noted. "So, what's our next move?"

"Well, you want to start school here again, right?" Ellen asked.

"Yes, we do. Even though our friends aren't here anymore, we can't just forget about everything," Aelita answered.

"Good answer," Steven said. "We'll take you to the headmaster's office."

"Is it still Delmas as the headmaster?" Jeremie asked.

"Yeah, for now. He wants to retire, but nobody will let him. Though the students have long forgotten you, the staff – the ones that knew you, anyway – have not. They will not let Delmas step down until the truth is revealed."

"The truth?"

"About Lyoko. None of the students have any idea what happened. Only select staff members and us know what this computer is for."

"Then let's go see the headmaster," Jeremie said. Steven and Jeremie led, the others following close behind.

* * *

-Neo's Notes- 

Well, here's the start of the next chapter in this saga… hope you enjoy it. Don't forget to leave a review! Until the next fateful meeting, take care! This is Neo, and you're listening to a new cut here on WNEO.


End file.
